The Community of Inquiryhttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org
A community of inquiry for the Community of Inquiry model.en-caSite content and materials shared by the community are licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/Wed, 21 Feb 2018 05:30:38 GMTReference/Education/Methods_and_Theorieshttps://cyber.harvard.edu/rss/rss.htmldwilton@athabascau.ca (Dan Wilton)dwilton@athabascau.ca (Dan Wilton)60http://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/interface/images/logosmall.coi.pngThe Community of Inquiryhttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org
144144Follow-up to CoI faculty development work at OHSU and beyondhttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project6
See an informative review, and announcement for another workshop here: https://www.winursing.org/collaborative-learning-experience-and-opportunities/ ... Mon, 08 Jan 2018 23:21:02 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project6Designing a Community of Inquiryhttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial9
In this first post of the New Year I will focus on creating an effective community of inquiry. This is the teaching presence responsibility to design a purposeful, collaborative and trusting community of learners. When we turn to the practical aspects of a CoI (community of inquiry), much attention has been directed to issues of facilitation. This should not be surprising as the CoI framework is a dynamic process model of thinking and learning collaboratively - not a static structural design template. Perhaps for this reason much less research has been directed to the crucial aspect of design. Design maps most of what can and will occur in an educational experience. For this reason I want to turn my attention to designing courses and programs that are shaped by the CoI framework. Empirical evidence shows that design influences engagement (Manwaring et al., 2017; Robinson, Kilgore Warren, 2017); however, it is important to appreciate that instructional design is best approached ... Tue, 02 Jan 2018 20:02:28 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial9The Impact of Teaching Presencehttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial8
I have described teaching presence as the essential element of a community of inquiry that sustains a purposeful collaborative inquiry learning experience. Moreover, research has supported the theoretical claims of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. From this perspective my goal here is to highlight and comment on recent evidence in support of the essential role of teaching presence in a CoI. The first research article is conclusive with regard to the positive impact of teaching presence "on learners' constructive and interactive engagement behaviors" (Zhang et al., 2016, p. 896). This is consistent with previous research and theoretical constructs with regard to the central role played by teaching presence (TP) (Garrison, 2017). Furthermore, their findings demonstrated enhanced communication and the construction of new knowledge beyond the explicit learning materials made possible through a community of inquiry. This adds additional evidence to the power of a CoI to achieve deep and meaningful ... Mon, 27 Nov 2017 18:34:14 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial8Other Presences?http://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial7
The focus of this post is an examination of two recent articles that suggest adding a fourth presence within the Community of Inquiry framework. This issue of adding a fourth presence (learner or learning presence) emerged from the work of Shea et al. (2012). Succinctly, learner presence was proposed to address the characteristics of learners and explain self-direction and motivation. The argument was that self-direction and motivation of the individual learner needs to be accounted for in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. Unfortunately, however, there are two problems with this. The first and most fundamental problem is that this approach is incongruent with the basic premise of a collaborative community of inquiry. The second problem is that the supposed need for learner presence has been addressed with the development of the shared metacognition construct. The first issue of incongruence has been addressed previously (Garrison, 2017) so I will focus most of my comments on how best to address ... Tue, 24 Oct 2017 19:18:09 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial7Social Presence and Interdependencehttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial6
In this post I wish to draw your attention to the violation of one of the basic assumptions of the Community of Inquiry framework. It is my view that some studies do not fully appreciate the theoretical implications of the framework with regard to the interdependence of the presences. That is, the presences do not operate in isolation. One presence cannot be considered absent of the influence of the others. A recent example is a study by Armellini and De Stefani (2016) that does not appear to recognize the interdependence of social and teaching presence. The authors appear to make this error when they say “Contributions of a purely social nature are not accounted for within the teaching presence dimension. Teaching presence discourse would be more effectively described if there were an explicit social dimension within the construct” (p. 8). More specifically here, teaching presence in a community of inquiry does not exist in a vacuum. In this instance teaching presence is reciprocally influenced ... Mon, 02 Oct 2017 19:43:30 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial6Cognitive Presence and Critical Thinkinghttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial5
I would like to continue my consideration of cognition in a community of inquiry with an examination of the foundational literature associated with critical thinking. A recent examination of the Cognitive Presence construct by Jens Breivik (2016) attempted to spark debate about the place of critical thinking in the CoI framework. I very much welcome this constructive critique as it provides an opportunity to clarify and refine the conceptual foundation of the CoI framework. As Breivik’s title suggests, the paper focuses on the critical thinking (CT) construct and its relationship to cognitive presence (CP). Breivik defines CT as “evaluating the tenability of claims” and argues that if CP essentially operationalizes CT (as he interprets the CoI literature), then the validity of the CP construct is brought into question; at least in terms of the quality of CT in online discussions. Perhaps not surprising, my departure with Breivik’s thesis is with the premise that CP is essentially a derivative ... Tue, 05 Sep 2017 19:47:46 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial5iMOOCs and Learning to Learn Onlinehttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project5
Athabasca University is known for its leadership and innovation in distance education. The emergence of MOOCs was of both interest and concern; interest in reference to the opportunities MOOCs could offer as accessible, affordable education and concern at the speed with which MOOCs were being designed and delivered without reference to distance education research/instructional design. An AU-MOOC Advisory Group was created to consider the opportunity to do just that: evaluate the opportunity to use what is known about successful distance online education in a massive open online course. Learning to Learn Online was the chosen topic for this exploratory MOOC design research. Learning to Learn Online (LTLO) is designed to provide novice online learners with effective skills, practices, and attitudes for online learning. LTLO is delivered with notions of micro learning communities in mind. ... Fri, 25 Aug 2017 21:00:36 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project5Cognitive Presence in a CoIhttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial4
The focus of the Community of Inquiry framework is thinking and learning collaboratively. At the heart of this shared learning experience is the cognitive presence construct which incorporates the personal and shared dynamics of reflection and discourse. The cognitive presence construct is operationalized by the Practical Inquiry model that reflects four phases of cognitive development (Triggering Event, Exploration, Integration, Resolution). However, in the first studies of cognitive presence the validity of the construct was questioned when little evidence was found that participants were reaching the resolution phase. It is to this point that I want to highlight two recent publications. The core of the first article by Sadafa and Olesova (2017) was to study general discussion questions compared to questions within a case study that were specifically designed from the perspective of the Practical Inquiry model. The study “provided evidence that cognitive presence does nothappen automatically; ... Mon, 31 Jul 2017 19:21:16 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial4Faculty development and the Community of Inquiry at Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursinghttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project4
The Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing identified a current trend in higher education, and in nursing programs at OHSU specifically: pressure to provide high quality online and hybrid programs and courses to students in our graduate and undergraduate programs. Twenty-seven percent of Masters Programs in US schools of nursing offer courses online (Brooks Morse, 2015) as do the majority of RN-BS programs. Further, a growing number of RN to MSN programs are also finding new homes online (AACN, 2015). These numbers are increasing based in part on the call from the IOM (2011) to increase BSN prepared nurses and to practice at the full extent of their license. Despite this growing demand and need for online programs that allow current RNs to further their education (undergraduate and graduate), faculty development in this rapidly expanding teaching modality is often limited. Faculty teaching in these online and hybrid courses need training in designing and delivering effective ... Sun, 02 Jul 2017 20:09:24 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project4Layering the Community of Inquiry Framework with Signature Pedagogieshttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project3
How do online synchronous sessions support student learning in professional graduate programs where students are engaging in research active opportunities for scholarship of the profession? As technology improves, online education is becoming a more accepted educational format. Using webconferencing tools, such as Adobe Connect, allows instructors to meet with students synchronously, or in real-time during the semester. With its similarity to face-to-face instruction, we wanted to better understand how instructors designed their synchronous sessions to promote student learning. First, our research team explored if, and how, instructors used signature pedagogies http://werklund.ucalgary.ca/ideas/archive within the synchronous sessions. Signature pedagogies are methods of teaching ... Wed, 21 Jun 2017 16:49:57 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project3CoI and Learning Outcomeshttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial3
The topic of this post is to explore the issue of learning outcomes and the Community of Inquiry framework. This is significant and interesting in that the CoI framework is not based on outcomes directly but instead the process of practical inquiry and how participants collaboratively construct knowledge in a deep and meaningful approach (Akyol, Arbaugh, Cleveland-Innes, Garrison, Ice, Richardson, Swan, 2009). This is the dynamic that educators have a direct influence over. However, while the focus of the CoI framework is on the educational transaction it is not disassociated from intended learning outcomes. Explicitly the inquiry process is intended to realize deep and meaningful learning outcomes. The issue of learning outcomes associated with the CoI framework may be the most important and challenging focus of future research. To this end I would like to briefly discuss two recent articles that address the issue of an apparent lack of evidence associated with whether a CoI fosters deep and ... Mon, 19 Jun 2017 22:34:16 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial3Best Practices in Blended Learning: Developing a Community of Professors and Students through Bricks and Clickshttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project2
The scope of the project is to better understand how university professors can improve the quality of learning, teaching and the student experience through the development and delivery of blended learning courses. Three questions drive the project: (1) Within the University of Ottawa, what conditions currently exist toward large scale adoption of blended learning? (2) What are the best practices in blended learning at the University of Ottawa and other leading provincial universities? (3) What action plans and tools need to be developed to support blended learning and teaching innovation? Outcomes focus on disseminating project results to faculty decision makers, professors and students through different venues and ... Tue, 13 Jun 2017 09:20:03 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project2CoI Relationshipshttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial2
Kadir Kozan (2016) provides us with a significant piece of research that provides important insights with regard to the relationships between and among the presences of the CoI framework. This research builds on work with Jennifer Richardson (Kozan Richardson, 2014). Their previous research confirmed a three factor structure and concluded the findings “align completely with the theoretical assumptions of the Community of Inquiry Framework” (Kozan Richardson, 2014, p. 39). Moreover, this research supports an earlier study that confirmed the hypothesized causal relationships among the presences of the CoI framework (Garrison, Cleveland-Innes Fung, 2010). The Kozan study of the causal relationships among teaching, cognitive and social presence revealed a complexity with regard to the nature of the CoI framework. The model with social presence as a partial mediator was confirmed. A second model, however, was intriguing. Kozan (2016) found ... Thu, 25 May 2017 18:36:44 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial2Supporting Discourse using Technology-Mediated Communication: The Community of Inquiry Model in Second Level Educationhttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project1
In Ireland, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported that in 2012, 98% of 15-year-old pupils have at least one computer at home, but only 64% of pupils reported that they use a computer, laptop, or tablet at school. These findings are based on an analysis of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data and show that despite the pervasiveness of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in pupils’ daily lives, such technologies have not yet been as widely adopted within the classrooms of formal second level education. When they are used in the classroom, their impact on pupil learning is mixed at best. Yet, the debate about the use of ICT in schools has been replaced by a discourse of inevitability, where schools of the future are presented as ICT rich sites of learning. The ‘space’ created in this discourse of inevitability enables schools and teachers to integrate systems of ICT without guiding epistemological or pedagogical ... Thu, 18 May 2017 12:20:49 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/project1Confirmation Bias and Fake Newshttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial1
Our goal with this Blog is to raise ideas and attempt to resolve issues associated with thinking and learning collaboratively in a purposeful community of inquiry. I would like to initiate this Blog with a discussion on the topic of confirmation bias. This topic was the focus of a recent article that speaks to the core strength and reason for a community of inquiry approach. To this point, the article by Beran et al. (2015) explores the pressure to conform to the group in a way that is a "barrier to effective communication and learning" (p. 63). The core message of this longitudinal study for me is that there is risk for conformity in collaborative online learning due to attachment and identification within the group. This is obviously relevant in the current environment of fake news and where individuals are increasingly trapped in their selected bubble. I explored this issue of conformity in some depth in a recent book titled Thinking Collaboratively (Garrison, 2016) that focused on ... Mon, 03 Apr 2017 13:19:07 GMThttp://www.thecommunityofinquiry.org/editorial1